SEARS OBSERVES 30 YEARS; CAPE RETAIL STORE MARKS ITS ANNIVERSARY IN THE TOWN PLAZA

The year was 1962.

Business in Southeast Missouri was booming, and Sears, Roebuck & Co., which had a small catalog operation in downtown Cape Girardeau, wanted to a bigger part of the community's business.

Two years earlier, the city's first shopping center Town Plaza had opened with several stores and more than 1,000 shopping spaces. The Kroger Store was the center's anchor store. Shoppers could also find books, fabrics, lighting supplies, gifts, office supplies, and more in the new center.

City officials estimated a population of more than 600,000 in the shopping area covered by Cape Girardeau's business firms, and the city was rapidly becoming a "hub" of the Southeast Missouri-Southern Illinois area.

Sears announced in April 1962 that it, too, would become a part of the Plaza Shopping Center, with a free-standing, 70,000-square-foot structure of its own. A year later, on April 24, 1993, Sears opened its new retail center.

"On opening day 30 years ago, Sears presented the first 100 ladies with beautiful carnations," said Graeme Wilson, now manager of Sears here. "We plan to repeat this event Saturday, when we celebrate the store's 30th anniversary."

Some Sears employees who were present for that April 24, 1963, opening will be on hand for Saturday's celebrations.

"Seven of the employees are still with the company," said Wilson. They are Pat Farrar, Laverne Nothdurft, Eddie Schreiner, Mona Nenninger, Ralph LeGrand, Shirley Koelzer and Jean Kinder.

The Cape Girardeau store was the only Sears retail store between St. Louis and Memphis.

Wilson is only the sixth manager of the Cape Girardeau store, having taken the position in March 1992. Wilson, who has been with the company for more than 20 years, moved here from Alton, Ill., replacing Jack Watts.

Hugh M. Mccall was the first Sears manager here. McCall, a Birmingham, Ala., native, came into town with 17 years experience with Sears. Following McCall was P.A. Mula, who assumed the manager's position. Next was Glenn Reeves, who became manager in 1973 and remained until 1986, when he retired with more than 30 years with the company.

Reeves is still a Cape Girardeau businessmen. He and his wife, Rhoda, own and operate Horizon Screen Printing Co. at 430 Broadway. Following Reeves as manager was Tom Gravely, the fourth manager. Watts replaced Gravely, who transferred.

"I think it's great that we still have seven of the same employees who opened the store," said Wilson. "That means these seven people have a combined total of more than 210 years experience."

Wilson said the Sears' strategy in 1993 is to direct the company's resources toward a common goal shaping Sears into a successful competitor.

"The focus will be to enhance what we are already doing well, making Sears a great place to shop," said Wilson. "This includes merchandising, customer service and store appearance.

"We recently installed five new service areas in the store for men's, kids' and women's apparel," said Wilson. "It's different and we're really proud of the new look."

The store has also added three new service vans.

"All in all, we at Sears in Cape Girardeau are looking forward to serving our customers for another 30 years," said Wilson.

Sears is in its 107th year of existence since railroad station agent Richard W. Sears and watchmaker Alva C. Roebuck founded their mail-order business in the late 1880s.

It's a well-known story that Sears was a railroad agent at North Redwood, Minn., when he decided in 1886 to try selling a crate of unwanted pocket watches. A year later Sears moved to Chicago and was joined by Roebuck, a watchmaker who repaired watches that Sears sold.

The new business was off and running. It thrived first as a mail-order house, then hit it big in retailing, growing into the nation's biggest retail company until 1991, when Wal-Mart assumed the number one retail sales spot.

The Sears "Big Book," which has been around for more than a century, will become history after 1993. Sears announced this year that it was discontinuing the "Big Book" and that catalog sales would cease after this year.

No Sears story is complete without mention of its "Houses by Mail" program.

At some points in the Sears history, the big retailer tried to sell automobiles, peddled groceries for 45 years, sold coffins, and delivered more than 100,000 mail-order houses between 1909 and 1937.

Many Sears homes can still be found in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. In fact, many of the homes were constructed at Illinois Lumber Yard near Cairo, Ill., from 1911 through the 1920s. The Cairo site was about three miles north of Cairo on a 40-acre tract parallel to the Illinois Central Railroad main line.